Surgut: Siberia’s Oil Capital, and Why People Actually Go
Surgut is a company town on a continental scale. There has been a settlement on this bend of the Ob river since…
Regional Guide
Russia
Explore the best of Russia: sights, culture, routes and travel tips from PenguFly, plus cheap flights to plan an unforgettable trip to Russia.
Tyumen: Siberia’s First Town and Its Winter Hot Springs
Tyumen has two claims worth knowing before you arrive. It was the first Russian town founded in Siberia, established in 1586 as…
Chelyabinsk: The Meteor City on the Edge of the Urals
Let us be honest about Chelyabinsk: it is an industrial city, and it does not pretend otherwise. It grew up on iron…
Samara: The Volga, a Secret Bunker and a Rocket in the Street
Samara is a big, easy-going city on the left bank of the Volga, and for most of the Soviet era outsiders were…
Pyatigorsk: Spa Town of the Caucasus and Lermontov’s Last Duel
Pyatigorsk is not a place you pass through on the way to somewhere else; people come here specifically, and usually for their…
Ufa: A Guide to the Capital of Bashkortostan
Capital of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Ufa spreads across hills between the Belaya and Ufa rivers in the southern Urals — a…
Pskov: A Guide to One of Russia’s Oldest Cities
Out on Russia's western edge, near the borders with Estonia and Latvia, Pskov is one of the country's oldest cities — a…
Vladivostok: Russia’s Pacific Gateway on the Sea of Japan
Perched on hills above the Sea of Japan at Russia's far-eastern edge, Vladivostok is a port city with an unmistakably international outlook…
Tuapse: A Black Sea Resort Between Mountains and Coast
Wedged between the Black Sea and the wooded slopes of the Caucasus, Tuapse offers a gentler, less crowded alternative to Sochi —…
Adler Beach Guide: The Best Places to Relax on the Black Sea
Adler, the southern district of Greater Sochi, has quietly become one of the Black Sea's most popular beach destinations. Its coastline runs…
Krasnaya Polyana Without Skis: The Sochi Mountains in Summer
Krasnaya Polyana is best known as Russia's premier ski destination, the mountain cluster above Sochi that hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics. But…
Novosibirsk: The Capital of Siberia
Novosibirsk is Russia's third-largest city and the effective capital of Siberia — a young, energetic metropolis that grew from nothing in little…